The Attorney General’s Office announced that, in separate incidents, two Vermont men, Travis Papineau, 39, of Northfield, and Patrick Knauss, 34, of Essex—were arraigned in Vermont Superior Court earlier this week for possession of child sexual abuse material.
Travis Papineau, 39, was arraigned yesterday, May 11, 2023, on two felony counts of Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material. The charges brought against Mr. Papineau are the result of a criminal investigation, including the execution of residential and online data search warrants, conducted by the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (VT-ICAC), including personnel from the Attorney General’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, the Vermont State Police, and Burlington Police Department, with assistance from Randolph Police Department and Northfield Police Department.
The investigation began when VT-ICAC received a CyberTipline Report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that an individual was uploading suspected images of child sexual abuse materials, commonly referred to as “child pornography,” to their Google account. Based upon the criminal investigation of this tip, Mr. Papineau was identified as the suspected source of the upload to Google.
Mr. Papineau pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Vermont Superior Court, Washington Criminal Division. The Court, Judge Kevin Griffin presiding, ordered conditions of release that prohibit Mr. Papineau’s contact with minors and access to the internet.
In a separate incident, Patrick Knauss, 34, of Essex, Vermont, was arraigned on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, on three felony counts of Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material. The charges brought against Mr. Knauss are the result of a criminal investigation, including the execution of residential and online data search warrants, conducted by VT-ICAC, including personnel from the Attorney General’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and Vermont State Police, with assistance from Essex Police Department and Burlington Police Department.
The investigation began when VT-ICAC received information from an FBI investigation that multiple suspects were coordinating online to “bait” children into sending sexually explicit images of themselves. The investigation revealed that the suspects sent each other images of child sexual abuse materials through the online messaging platform Telegram Messenger. Based upon the criminal investigation, Mr. Knauss was identified as one of the suspects involved in procuring and possessing child sexual abuse materials.
Mr. Knauss pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Vermont Superior Court, Chittenden Criminal Division. The Court, Judge John Pacht presiding, ordered conditions of release that prohibit Mr. Knauss’ contact with minors and limit his access to the internet.
VT-ICAC investigates cases of child sexual exploitation occurring over the internet, including the production and online distribution of child sexual abuse materials. VT-ICAC also provides forensic examination services, technical assistance, law enforcement training, and public education and outreach.
The Attorney General’s Office emphasizes that individuals charged with a crime are legally presumed innocent until their guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.